All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Nematodes are the most abundant animals in the world, found to inhabit sulfurous sediment, deep-sea trenches, human lymph nodes, pig intestines, plant roots, whale placenta, arctic ice, and many other ecosystems, making them one of the most successful groups of animals on earth. Many nematode species are known to parasitize humans; a relationship that is thought to have existed for thousands of years.
The rise of immune disorders in the industrialized world has been concomitant with the decline of endemic parasitisim, lending way to the etiologic theory that humans are creating an inappropriate immune response that had previously been focused on overcoming the suppressive mechanisms of parasites. Nematodes have been in use to treat some immune disorders. There is a need in the art to develop novel compounds and methods of treating, alleviating, and/or preventing an adverse immune response and/or disorder in the place of live organisms.